I work in the social housing sector and we’ve had a consultant in who has commented that our operatives in the Property Care dept don’t carry out Point of Work Risk assessments. The operatives all have a PDA and when they start a new job one of the prompts before they can commence asks if a further RA is necessary which has a YES/NO answer, if the operative answers YES they have a free text box where they can identify further risks and type what they have done to control the risk however it doesn’t give them a ‘list’ of what those risks could be and it would take a rebuild of the programme on the PDA to change this. All operatives have a manual with task risk assessments and safe working practices which they carry with them at all times. My question is……….is it necessary for operatives to carry out a PoWRA for every job they attend, bearing in mind that the work ranges from small repairs such as fixing a leaking tap to fitting new kitchens or bathrooms to minor roof work etc. I have come across these on larger construction sites where supervisors would fill them in before work starts and has operatives sign to say they have been informed of such risks so I completely understand what these entail. Your comments would be very welcome. Sarah

Sarah, we have property maintenance teams doing similar work for housing associations, etc, and what we we do at the moment is similar to you (although not PDA-based for another six months). We don't see the justification for additional processes, and the check for uncontrolled hazards works well - we've had some excellent suggestions come back from this. This is effectively a point-of-work assessment, just that it leaves the details up to the employee (who, like yours, is there to do something low risk like fix a hinge or replace carpet and has RA-based instructions controlling the hazards). This system works as long as we select, train and supervise to maintain a team of employees with mature attitudes who we can demonstrate will pause and seek additional help when needed. We wouldn't use the same system on our higher risk, or complicated or unfamiliar activities.

That 'consultant' is not offering good advice. You mention kitchen /bathroom replacement. That work requires a (proportionate) Construction Phase Plan - not POWRA. Perhaps the biggest risk associated with those more intrusive works would be asbestos-containing materials (Assuming some stock is pre-1999). I personally doubt that local, individual application of a POWRA is going to mitigate that risk.

I think PoWRA (Dynamic Risk Assessments) have a limited use in certain environments [waste control on the public street, arbour works and similar] & should be tuned to that environment and in my view where CDM works are adequately managed then all problems should be picked up early before work starts so PoWRA's are not really necessary in CDM areas